‘Probable Cause’ by Theresa Schwegel
Published by Quercus. ISBN 978-1-84724-299-0

 The fact that Probable Cause starts and finishes with the same statement may suggest that nothing much happens in the book.  "The stores alarm doesn't startle anyone" starts off chapter one and the same sentence starts the last chapter.  Then both sentences go on to suggest that the alarm is not regarded by anyone either in the shop or in the vicinity,  and the last chapter finishes with  "it's human nature -- we keep moving along oblivious - the hard part is to find a way to keep going".  However,   a lot happens in the book and I had to read it twice to gather exactly what did happen.  Some of the confusion on my part,  I think,  arose from the fact that ten of the Chicago Police Force were introduced in the first two chapters,  and some of them were the ones committing the crimes as a kind of initiation test to prove they could trust one another.

Apart from the burglaries,  two in number,  one of a TV set and one of some jewellery,  there is only one other crime and that is murder.  The man murdered is the owner of the jeweller's shop,  by name Ipolitas,  and that had not been planned by the Chicago Force. The plot is mainly concerned with the Chicago police trying to find out who did the murder or, more exactly ,  who they can arrest for the murder in order to ensure that they themselves are in the clear for their crimes.  The one man in the force,  Ray Weiss, who cannot go along with a false arrest is a new member of the force and who is trying to establish the identity of the actual murderer.  His partner,  Jack Fiore,  has his own reasons for wanting to arrest an innocent suspect and get him convicted.  Case closed.  Weiss is being victimised in various ways including piling dog mess outside his apartment and guns fired at his windows.  In spite of all this and inspired by his father's success in the force ,  Weiss persists against all the odds and wins in the end.

This is a very American story with names,  vocabulary,  conversation and attitudes as one would expect from an American writer.  Altogether I enjoyed reading it but think I found a second reading more rewarding.

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Rosemary Brown